John Capon, (aliasJohn Salcot) (died 1557) was aBenedictine monk who becamebishop of Bangor, thenbishop of Salisbury underHenry VIII. He is often referred to asJohn Salcot alias Capon (variously spelt).

He graduated B.A. from theUniversity of Cambridge, in 1488. He became prior ofSt John's Abbey, Colchester, and then abbot ofSt Benet's Hulme, inNorfolk.^[1] He was a vocal supporter of Henry's divorce fromCatherine of Aragon.

He was abbot ofHyde Abbey from 1530, and bishop of Bangor from 1533 (without papal approval); he was consecrated a bishop on 19 April 1534, byThomas Cranmer,Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted byJohn Longland,Bishop of Lincoln; andChristopher Lord,suffragan bishop ofCanterbury andBishop of Sidon.^[2] It is believed that he never took up residence at Bangor, and he admitted that he found it a problem that he did not speakWelsh.^[3] He was translated to become bishop of Salisbury in 1539.^[4]

UnderMary I of England he was one of the commissioners involved in the trials of Protestants and condemnedJohn Bradford,Laurence Saunders andRowland Taylor to death.^[5]

During John Capon's period as bishop of Salisbury the town and country witnessed some of its bloodiest years in its persecution of Protestants. The versatile, feared and unscrupulous Capon was Bishop at the time of the reign of Henry VIII and held it during the period of the protectorate, the reign of Edward VI, and Mary. As the king's commissioner he sent several to the stake in the days ofHenry VIII. Under Edward VI he became a Protestant; and, changing once more to Catholic under Mary, sat as a judge at the trial ofBishop Hooper andJohn Rogers. He saw the fall ofThomas Cromwell, and the confiscation of chantries and colleges. During the more than twenty years of his episcopate he saw many people put to death for heresy, denying the king's supremacy, or on other pretences; among the more notable victims wereArchbishop Cranmer, and BishopsRidley andLatimer.

It was not long before the effects of Mary's reign were felt in Salisbury. The use of the 1552 Prayer Book was forbidden by the end of 1553, altars were restored, and the Mass was again said. On 24 July 1554 Queen Mary married Philip of Spain and within six months the first martyrs were burning. One of the Commission of Bishops appointed to persecute Protestants was the Bishop of Salisbury, John Capon. Having sent numerous well-known Protestants to the stake elsewhere in England, Capon did not hesitate to do the same to men of humble rank in his own Salisbury diocese. On 24 March 1556, three days after Archbishop Cranmer was burned, three men were burned at the stake in Salisbury. Their names wereJohn Maundrell (a farmer),William Coberly (a tailor), andJohn Spicer (a stonemason).^[6][7]

John Capon was a brother ofWilliam Capon, a formerMaster ofJesus College, Cambridge, whose bequest of £100 was instrumental in the founding ofKing Edward VI School, Southampton.

• Concise Dictionary of National Biography.under Capon, John
• Louisa, Angelo J. (2004).Capon [Salcot], John (d. 1557), bishop of Salisbury.Oxford Dictionary of Biography. Oxford University Press.
• Magee, John; Magee, Angela.John Foxe 1517 - 1587(PDF). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2 April 2015.

• 1557 deaths
• English Benedictines
• Bishops of Bangor
• Bishops of Salisbury
• 16th-century Church of England bishops
• 16th-century Welsh Anglican bishops

• Use dmy dates from December 2014
• Use British English from December 2014
• Year of birth unknown